


Kurogane Week 2018

by hitsusven (svensationalist)



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Canon Compliant, Found Family, Gen, Kurogane Week 2018, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 18:36:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19362292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svensationalist/pseuds/hitsusven
Summary: Collection of short Kurogane-centric one-shots written back in 2018 for @kuroganeweek on Tumblr.





	1. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Blood  
> Post Date: August 14th 2018
> 
> Kurogane reflects on his time in Yama with Fai.

In Yama, Kurogane’s eyes are the wrong colour.

So are the wizard’s, and he remembers their mutual shock once they have the time to notice such a small but significant change.  It’s disconcerting to look into black irises that he knows should be a brilliant blue. He wonders if the other man feels similarly perturbed when looking at him, or if he thinks the black suits him just fine.

Both of them wear black now, but Kurogane loses more of his red and exchanges it for blue.  It doesn’t feel right. When he thinks of blue, he thinks of skies that seem infinite when they aren’t, he thinks of water that slips through fingers, he thinks of deceit and falsehoods.  Blue is the wizard’s colour, not his.

Kurogane is red. Fires devouring Suwa and childhood with heartless ease. Rage consuming him inside out with the same unrelenting ferocity.  Blood of a dead mother in his arms, blood dripping down a father’s severed arm, blood painted across the blade of an early inheritance, blood on his hands, always, always.

He and the wizard paint the battlefield with his colours, trapped in an endless cycle of war and violence while the moon looms watchfully in the sky. They fight, night after night, entering a war clad in false blues for a false allegiance, and returning to their tents with sanguine weariness.  Months pass and he wonders if they’ll ever be free of bloodshed, or if this is the result of his own choices which led to Tomoyo sending him away.  

( _ You have the same eyes as your father _ , he remembers being told by the people of Suwa.  He has made them all liars; his father did not have the eyes of a murderer.)


	2. To Be the Very Best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: To Be the Very Best  
> Post Date: August 15th 2018
> 
> Brief character study. 2nd person POV.

You lost something else important to you over the years — slowly and slowly, with each stroke of the sword, with each spilling of blood and ended life, carving a vital part of you away until it is forgotten and discarded.  You don't believe in waste or frivolity, so you remove what you find lacking in yourself with the precision of a surgeon, becoming a man honed for lethality and no room for doubt. You leave behind a boy that climbs trees to retrieve his mother's scarf, a boy who yearns to protect his home side by side with his father; he has no place here in your future full of demons and assassins and single-minded duty.   
  
(You become strong but you forget the reason why you wanted strength in the first place.)


	3. Babies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Babies  
> Post Date: August 16th 2018
> 
> Kurogane reflects on how young Syaoran and Sakura are.

When Kurogane looks at the kid and the princess, he wonders if he was ever that... small.  

(It’s a silly question — of course he was.  He didn’t enter the world a full-grown man, even if he did lose his idyllic childhood far earlier than he should have.  But wasn’t that the case for all of them on this journey, no matter how hard they tried to hide it?)

Sometimes he forgets. The kid and princess both possess fierce determination that rivals his own, and they are sometimes wise beyond their years.  They’ve surmounted trials that most people never have to deal with their entire lives. Their presence feels so large that it’s easy to forget that they’re still so very young; these are two people, fighting desperately for their lives and their love before they’re even adults.  

It isn’t fair.

(Life rarely is. He’d spit on hitsuzen if it was a tangible thing.)

He tries very hard not to care, but the wizard is right: the kid and princess are their children now — they’re  _ his _ — and he will protect them as long as he draws breath.  And hopefully, this time, his best efforts will be enough to protect those he cares about.


	4. Royalty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Royalty  
> Post Date: August 17th 2018
> 
> In another universe, Kurogane is a prince. Implied spoilers for his and Fai's backstories.

The situation would be a bit funny, except Fai can't bring himself to joke about princes as easily as other things.  Even if the prince in question is Kuro-tan.  

Well, another version of him.

But the main reason why Fai remains uncharacteristically somber is how… quiet their Kurogane seems.  Almost pensive, as he turns his gaze towards the land and people around him, unconsciously searching for something that doesn't exist.

At first, Fai thinks that it's because the world looks like Nihon. It certainly has many similarities, from the pieces he remembers of their brief stay before moving on to Clow.  But he catches the concerned glances that Syaoran tries to hide, and concludes that the world named Suwa looks a lot like Kurogane's first home.

This world has a Kurogane who is a prince; it makes Fai wonder if their Kurogane is a bit of a noble too.  It doesn't seem to suit him. He's far too honest for politics and diplomacy, for one thing, and his manners could use some (a lot of) work.  

But this world's Kurogane is a prince well loved.  Wherever they go, people have only good things to say about Suwa’s kind royalty.  The king and queen love their country and protect it with all their hearts, and their son follows in their footsteps. If souls are shared across worlds, then… 

Fai supposes even Kuro-puu has the potential to be a wonderful Prince Charming too, and tells the ninja that to his face.  The resulting chase is quite gratifying.


	5. It's Getting Hot in Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: It's Getting Hot in Here  
> Post Date: August 18th 2018
> 
> Kurogane doesn't mind one desert in particular. Post-canon. Implied manga ending spoilers.

Kurogane thinks he will always dislike deserts.  He tries not to let his discomfort show. The _ last _ thing he needs is the wizard dramatically draping across his back and whining about how his ‘delicate sensibilities’ can’t handle the climate so  _ Kuro-chan must suffer with me! it’s only fair! _ while the kid sweats nervously off to the side unsure whether he should say something, and the meatbun would be bouncing up and down on his head gleefully mocking him about always wearing black like a masochist. 

Something stupid like that.  He keeps his face neutral, since the only thing worse than all that happening is the wizard somehow figuring out that he thought about it in the first place.

“Your aim was off again,” Kurogane grumbles to the tiny passenger nestled in his cloak.  It’s  _ far _ too hot for her to be there and the heavy fabric is probably grossly damp with his sweat by now, but he’s too tired to try removing her.  (Yes. Tired. That’s exactly why.)

The sulking is almost palpable.  “Mokona tried her best! Mokona was in a hurry.”

Fai laughs and gives Mokona a gentle pat on the head.  “It's fine, we didn’t land that far away. We’re almost there.  And even if we were hours off the mark, I don’t think Syaoran-kun would mind too much.”  He turns to look at the boy in question, a fond smile on his face.

Kurogane also looks at the kid in front of them who is nearly jogging in his excitement.  He can’t tease him for it since he feels the same way, just with longer legs so he doesn’t have to half-run to reach their destination sooner.  “It’s been a while,” he says, unsure about the exact amount of time other than  _ too long _ .

“It has,” Fai agrees.

Before Kurogane can ask for a more accurate assessment — the wizard is better at figuring out how time passes across worlds — he hears Syaoran shouting excitedly.  His head jerks forward and his mouth slowly lifts into a small smile after seeing the person joyfully running to meet them with her arms outstretched.

Deserts are terrible, but Kurogane loves Clow anyways because of Sakura.


	6. Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Choices  
> Post Date: August 19th 2018
> 
> Kurogane makes a decision in Celes. Major plot spoilers. 2nd person POV.

The world is collapsing inwards but you have no eyes for the destruction surrounding you. You see the stark outline of the scar on your left hand and its weighty memories of helplessness. You see your white-knuckled hold on the wizard’s arm as his curse curls closer and closer.  You see the fear laid bare on his face when he has nothing left to keep you safe; you know your face is his mirror when you can’t do the same for him.

There is a painful awareness in your heart that you stand at a crossroads with no time left.

Do you choose the oath you made to return to Nihon and Tomoyo, or the oath you made to protect this new family you found?

Leave him behind to save yourself, or refuse to let go?

Your life, or his?

(A voice drifts through your fading consciousness, as if you are dreaming—)

_ No _ .  You already made your choice, months ago in the crumbling ruins of Tokyo.  Long before that if you are honest with yourself. Your choice — your  _ wish  _ never changed after all this time and everything you went through.

(— _ You desire to go together? Is that what your heart truly wishes? _ )

You raise your sword.

**Author's Note:**

> TRC Tumblr: [@hitsusven](https://hitsusven.tumblr.com/)


End file.
